Cargo bound for Arkansas litters the railroad tracks at the scene of early Wednesday's fatal collision on Interstate 20 west of Odessa.

Cargo bound for Arkansas litters the railroad tracks at the scene of early Wednesday's fatal collision on Interstate 20 west of Odessa.

Photo: Mark Sterkel, MBO

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Authorities investigating Wednesday's crash look for any mechanical problems that might have played a part. The collision killed eight inmates and two guards, and sent five others on the bus to West Texas hospitals. less

Authorities investigating Wednesday's crash look for any mechanical problems that might have played a part. The collision killed eight inmates and two guards, and sent five others on the bus to West Texas ... more

Photo: Mark Sterkel, MBO

10 dead as prison bus skids off highway, hits train

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DALLAS - Two corrections officers and eight prisoners were killed on Wednesday when a prison bus skidded off an icy West Texas overpass and collided with a train, officials said.

The bus was carrying inmates from an intake facility in Abilene to a state jail in El Paso when the crash occurred about 7:30 a.m. on Interstate 20 west of Odessa, said Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Another corrections employee and four other prisoners were injured and transported to Medical Center Hospital in Odessa.

"It's as bad as you can imagine," a battalion chief for the Odessa Fire Department, Kavin Tinney, told The Odessa American. "In 32 years, it's as bad as anything I've seen."

The prisoners, all male, were handcuffed together in pairs, according to Jason Clark, a spokesman for the TDCJ. All of them had recently completed the intake process at the John Middleton Transfer Facility in Abilene and were being taken to the Rogelio Sanchez State Jail in El Paso.

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The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to Odessa to investigate.

The overpass was slick with ice at the time of the crash, said Sheriff Mark Donaldson of Ector County. The temperatures were near freezing, he said, and it was sprinkling when the bus ran into the side of a moving freight train.

Five people were taken to Medical Center Hospital and were initially in critical condition, said Bradley Timmons, the police chief for the Ector County Hospital District.

"It is with a heavy heart that we mourn the loss of those killed and injured this morning in a tragic accident," Livingston said in a statement. "Their loved ones will be in our thoughts and prayers."

Photos from the crash scene showed a white bus with substantial damage lying on its side next to the railroad tracks.

Packages from damaged containers on the train were scattered near the tracks.

The Union Pacific train was carrying freight and came to a stop shortly after being struck. Its crew of two - an engineer and a conductor - emerged without injury.

None of the cars derailed, but two containers near the back of the train were damaged, according to Mark Davis, a railroad spokesman. The train was traveling from California to Arkansas and was stopped at the site of the accident for several hours.

The impact triggered the train's emergency brakes, Davis said, causing it to stop.